NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Revalidation Newsletter –March 2017

Secondary Care

Medical Revalidation Webpage

If you need guidance on any of the aspects of medical revalidation, including patient questionnaires, complaints certificates, you will find it on the medical revalidation page on HR Connect by following the link below.

This year’s appraisal cycle is coming to an end and we would encourage everyone to get their appraisals completed. This year we have had a slightly different process for Clinical Fellows such that they are appraised by their Educational Supervisor. We are going to be seeking feedback on this process and we would be grateful for your views.

Appraisal Record

A few months ago, we issued some guidance on the completion of Form 4s to enable the Responsible Officer to make a recommendation to the GMC. We are continuing to find that some appraisal records are incomplete and we need to go back to the appraiser/appraisee for further information. This can delay the whole process and may result in deferral. The guidance we have given is repeated below.

  • Give a short thumb sketch of the appraisee’s job and link this to the spread of CPD in Domain 1. This gives us a feel for workload and any stressors that might arise.
  • Likewise, a short description of quality improvement activity is helpful and the appraisee should be able to present a "complaints certificate" regarding the number they have been involved in. It is helpful to us to know how many people are using this process. If the appraisee has not been involved in a significant clinical incident please say so.
  • Colleague and patient feedback should give some indication of the returns and spread of replies and in the case of the MSF, it is worthwhile noting how the appraisee scored themselves and their reflection on the results.
  • In the probity reply, private practice should be annotated in addition to things like the management of research funds.
  • Lastly, it is really helpful if issues and actions flow into the PDP. The PDP should be very personal and be time specific and should not relate to service development, unless there is a need in so doing to acquire another skill.

Appraisal Phasing

InApril 2014 the Board introduced an appraisal phasing system, whereby each appraisee has an allocated appraisal window (phase) in which they should conduct their appraisal for the year.

The system was introduced to ensure an even spread of appraisals throughout the year, and also to ensure that the Responsible Officer has a recent appraisal to review in advance of an appraisee's revalidation submission date, in conjunction with previous appraisals.

An appraisee’s appraisal phase is predicated by their month of revalidation, rather than the year. Appraisees will fall into either Phase 1, 2 or 3 as follows:

Phase 1 / Dr A has a revalidation month of:
April/May/June/July / Dr A would require to complete their appraisal in the months of:
December, January, February or March
Phase 2 / Dr B has a revalidation month of:
August/September/October/November / Dr B would require to complete their appraisal in the months of:
April, May, June or July
Phase 3 / Dr C has a revalidation month of:
December/January/February/March / Dr C would require to complete their appraisal in the months of:
August, September, October or November

Complaints / SCI Certificate

The Medical Staffing Department are now able to producea certificateshowing whether an appraisee has been involved in any complaints or SCI’s in the previous year. This information is extracted from the Datix system.

To request a certificate in advance of your annual appraisal meeting for discussion, please email the Medical Revalidation Team at .

SOAR

Can we remind you that SOAR feedback forms 6A and 6B are available for completion.

Recognition of Trainers

In 2016 we managed to have recognised almost 1,000 trainers in Secondary Care. Many of the trainers were recognised on the basis of things they were going to do such as update their training through an accredited course. In your next appraisal, please make sure you have completed this and uploaded any supporting information in the section on Recognition of Trainers rather than some other part of your appraisal record. The Educational Organisers (NES and the Medical School) have already started to audit a number of records looking for further information.

We don’t want to lose any of you as trainers and if we can be of help please contact us for further information.

Professor Paul Knight

Secondary Care Appraisal Lead

NHSGGC